– M’s Round 2

This concludes Marina’s Round 2 with mod R2/D.
My second mod, Holy Grail R2/D has arrived! This is my message to Clement regarding the mod:

Dear Clement,

I was so thrilled to try my second mod! It started with a spicy explosion of saffron and my heart rejoiced. I do like this version more than Mod No. 1, simply because it is spicier, warmer and more “substantial”, not as ethereal.

For the next mod I was wondering if we could make it even warmer, heavier and more animalic. I know that my proposal said that I want my scent to be spicy, but I was thinking that perhaps we could tone down the spice (which I perceive to be mainly saffron) a little, not so much by reducing the amount of it as by making the other notes stronger. As it is, to my nose and on my skin,” saffron” overwhelms everything else. I do smell a little musk and some amber in the drydown, but apart from that the scent seems rather linear, like a saffron “soliflore”. (If you are familiar with Safram by Laura Tonatto, this is how Mod 2 smells to my nose.)

I would absolutely love the scent to have more woods, particularly sandalwood. And I would be so happy if the musk was made much, much stronger. I also want this musk to be very obviously “dirty”. No clean musk for me, please. I don’t know if you had a chance to read the comments made by our readers about the first mod…One of my wonderful fellow bloggers, March, came up with an idea of Marina’s Skank-o-Meter. On a scale of 1 to 10, where Clair de Musc by Serge Lutens is 1 and Muscs Koublai Khan is a perfect 10, I would like my Holy Grail to be 8,5 or maybe even 9. Please don’t hold back and don’t be afraid to scare me off with animalic notes. I love my scents to be dark and dirty.

I also wanted to note that some of the people who received the 2nd mod told me that they smelled a leather note there. I was a little upset that there seemed to be no leather on my skin. However, after a couple of more tries, I did actually start to smell leather, albeit faintly, in the very late drydown. I would love for that note to be much stronger! Paired with the dirty kind of musk I have in mind, spiced up by some saffron and cardamom, softened by the velvety sandalwood and perhaps some vanilla…oh my!

To sum it all up and hopefully to amuse you, here are my impressions and wishes:

This is how Mod R2/D smells right now- bright, thrilling, but essentially insubstantial:

Fireworks

This is how I would like it to smell- warm, sensual, generous, inviting, like a fire burning in the darkness of the night:

Fire

I also want it to be “dirty” and not at all innocent. I would go as far as to say that I want it to smell “dangerous”, perhaps even a little sinister…Like this:

Franz von Stuck, Sin

Thank you very much again! I am looking forward to hearing from you and to the next mod!

Just a quick note to announce that the Round 1 trial sets are sold out. Round 2: Holy Grail R2/D samples are, however, now available to purchase in the online shop. As with Round 1 samples and all the future ones to come, the supplies are very limited and the samples are sold on a first come, first served basis.

Below is Clement’s reply to my message about the first mod, Holy Grail R1/A:

Hi Marina,

First of all, there is no problem in criticizing a fragrance, I mean that’s what makes the perfumer go forward! So any opinion is more than welcome!!! Then it’s my job to interpret them to modify the fragrance.
Actually, I found your comments pretty clear and accurate…When you talk about the almond note… that aspect of the fragrance is created by the combination of some powdery milky and sweet notes like cinnamon and vanilla, and citrus notes such as mandarine and orange. And I will remove that effect in the further mods.
Also, from what I understood, it’s pretty clear you want something much richer, raw, straight to the point, with much more signature and personality, I guess I was a little too shy in my first trial…
Work is already in progress so be ready!